Cards and Alleys
by Forgotten.Thirteen
Summary: AU Mello has a dream about how he met a fortune teller when he was eight. Soon after that, he is left to fend off the streets and meets a bunch of homeless kids who want to survive as much as he does. Maybe more. MattXMello and maybe other pairings
1. Queen of Clubs

_**Disclaimer: Death Note belongs to Tsugumi Obha and Takeshi Obata.**_

* * *

**Cards and Alleys**

**Chapter One: Queen of Clubs**

-

_It was one of those overly disgusting days that made it known that the street was dirty. Crap and garbage littered the side walk and abandoned paper and plastic bags flew through the air. The sun beat down on the people walking along the road. Some complained. Others wished that they had worn lighter clothes. Most people just walked around, trying to find a place to cool down. Mihael Keehl stood on the sidewalk, his hand clasped in his father's. He didn't understand why his father had brought him out that day. He wanted to go home to his mother. It was too hot. In the distance, Mihael heard a bell ringing and it reminded him of Church. His father didn't like Church, but his mother took him there sometimes. Mihael was only eight and didn't understand much, but Church made him feel like someone was there for him. Like someone was watching over him. Him and his mother. Maybe even his father, as well. And that fact made him feel safe._

_There was a tug on Mihael's arm and he followed his father across the road. The boy felt his sweat trickling down the side of his forehead and he wiped it away with his free hand. He followed his father into a small store and was told to wait by the door while his father did some grocery shopping. He looked around the store in fascination. Candy and gum boxes were sitting on a rack next to the cashier. Mihael thought about asking his father for a candy bar. Just one measly chocolate bar. Of course, there was no way his father would buy it for him when they didn't have much money to begin with. Oh, how much Mihael loved chocolate. His mouth started watering from just looking at it._

_His father returned and paid for the groceries. When he was finished, they walked out of the store and turned left. They passed by an alleyway were a woman sat at a table with a crystal ball on it. The woman wasn't that old; maybe thirty at most. Her brown hair fell down her back in waves. She wore a purple Indian-style dress. Her eyes were a cloudy blue and her skin was lightly tanned. She had small bags under her eyes and Mihael could tell she was trying her best not to look bored. At the sight of the two of them, the woman looked up and smiled._

_"Why, hello, there. Do you want me to tell you you're fortune?" asked the lady._

_Mihael, for some reason, wanted to say yes. He knew the act was completely fake, but he still wanted to have his fortune read by that woman. He didn't understand why, but something drew him to her._

_"No. No, that's alright. Come along, Mihael," said his father._

_"Dad, can I get my fortune read?" asked the little boy._

_Mihael's father sighed and gave up. "How much is it?"_

_"It's ten dollars for one reading," said the woman. _

_"Come on, Mihael. I'm not wasting my money on something like this," said his father and started dragging the boy away._

_"Wait. Come back. I'll give you a reading with my cards for free," pleaded the woman._

_"Can I, Dad?" asked Mihael._

_His father sighed and said, "Fine." Miheal ran back to the woman with his father following. The woman gave him a smile and started shuffling her cards. The first card she pulled out was a Nine of Spades._

_"You or your family are dealing with misfortune and you are probably pour. You desperately wish for the predicament you're in to change. " The next card she pulled out was a Jack of Hearts._

_"You either have or will meet a friend in the near future. You will or do see him as someone with all the solutions and will expect him to be there for you and to help you. You will probably meet other people along with him, but they probably won't seem as important or you may even dislike them." _

_Mihael smiled. The woman was pretty accurate and he already liked his second card. She glanced at him and then pulled out another card. She flipped it over and there sat the Ace of Spades. The woman's face grew worried. Mihael twisted his head sideways and looked at the woman, curiosity written all over his face._

_"The Ace of Spades is a symbol of misfortune. It's usually associated with death or usually a difficult ending," said the woman, forgetting for a moment that she was talking to a little boy. Mihael felt his father's hand on his shoulder._

_"Come on, Mihael. Let's go," said his father, leading Miheal away from the woman. The boy followed, but he kept sneaking glances back at the woman. He saw the woman shake her head and sigh._

-

Mihael woke up and wiped the sweat that had built up on his forehead. He sat up onto the side of his bed and wondered why he had just dreamed that. It had happened three years ago. Really, what the fortune teller had said was complete bull shit. Mihael had believed it for a while, but then he realized that it was kind of obvious. He had been wearing really dirty clothes that had been ripped and most of his clothes were like that. It wasn't had to know that he was pour by just looking at what he had been wearing. And he would probably meet someone some day that will seem important to him. Also, death happened to everyone. It's a fact that was hard to forget.

Mihael changes into his clothes and walked down stairs. His father sat at the kitchen table, looking at Mihael.

"What took you so long?" asked his father.

"I was sleeping," snapped Mihael, but quickly wished that he hadn't. His father lung for him and grabbed him my the hair.

"What did you say, you little bitch?" said his father with a tug on Mihael's blond hair.

"Ow. I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

His father let go of his hair and said, "Make breakfast!"

As Mihael started making eggs for his father, he remembered the time when his mother was still alive. His father had been a kind person who cared about him, but when his mother died, his father started going out with his friends more often. He would come back in the middle of the night drunk and wake Mihael up just to beat him. Mihael had multiple bruises all over his body which he covered up by wearing big clothes. He would have run away a long time ago, but he missed his old father. Sure, he was mad at the man, but not enough to leave him. If it wasn't for Mihael, his father would be dead or starving some where on the street.

He supposed it could be worse. He lived in a house, even though it was small, dirty, and seemed like it would fall down in seconds. He had lived in this house ever since his father had lost his job five years ago. After that, his father couldn't get another job even if he tired and his mother was their source of income. After his mother died, his father stopped trying. It was a complete accident how she died. She had just been taking a walk when there was an accident. Mihael didn't know much; he hadn't listened to the police officer after he told him that his mother was dead. He didn't know the detailed and didn't want to.

Mihael finished making the eggs, making sure to burn them slightly, and plopped them onto his father's plate. Then he grabbed his backpack and ran out the door towards school before his father said anything.

**To be continued…**

* * *

_A/N: Hi. To everyone that's new to my stuff, I'm . My real name is Abby, but I also go by Rasko.  
_

_Well, this is a new story and it's a lot different then the other stories I've written on this site. Basically, this isn't a humor story. For a while, I didn't know what to call it, but then I thought, what if I have a theme or a topic that I will refer to on and on through out the story? My next idea was how about make the theme cards? Then I tried playing around with a translating web site to see if I could make the title in another language. That didn't work and then I settled on Cards and Alleys. Also, the chapter titles will all be named after cards. There is a specific meaning to them, but then you'd have to know what each card means when used in Cartomancy (or fortune telling with cards) to really get it. And even if you don't get it, it doesn't matter. It's not really that important. If you're interested in what the cards mean, though, search fortune telling cards and the first one that isn't "shopping results" is what I'm going to use. _

_School has started so I won't be able to work on this too much. I will try to update as much as I can, though._

_Please review. I want to know what you think of this story. _


	2. King of Spades

_**Disclaimer: Death Note belongs to Tsugumi Obha and Takeshi Obata.**_

* * *

**Cards and Alleys**

**Chapter Two: King of Spades**

**-**

A blond haired girl walked into a store. The scent of the food in the store dazzled and amazed her. She was tempted to grab everything off the shelves and run for it, but she knew she couldn't do that. She had to be careful. Any second and she could be grabbed and taken to an orphanage. She didn't want that. The orphanage where she would be thrown in would probably be neglected and dirty and no one would care about her. At least in the streets, she had friends. People who understood her. In the orphanage, she'd probably be thrown in with children that had cancer or some other disease. No. If she was going to die, she was going to die on the streets.

The girl approached the counter and spied a bunch of meat in a glass box. A man smiled at her over the box, but she didn't pay any attention to him. She looked at the meat and could have sworn she had been drooling.

"Can I help you, miss?" asked the man.

"Um…yeah. Can I have some of that beef?" asked the girl. The man smiled and pulled the meat out. He wrapped it up and placed it on the top of the glass box.

"That will be nine, ninety-five, miss."

The girl just stared at the man, then at the meat, and back to the man again. Then she quickly grabbed the meat and made a run for it.

"Stop! Thief!" yelled the man. On impulse, he grabbed a gun that was sitting behind the register. He fired two bullets. One of the made it's mark on wall next to the door. The other one landed in the back of the girl's head.

-

Mihael sat at the dinner table and sighed. He played around with the spoon in the bowl, but didn't bring any of the contents to his lips. His father sat across from him, sucking on a cigarette. He would take a spoonful of the soup every so often and eat it. Then he would go back to his cigarette. Mihael had gotten used to his father's smoking. It didn't really bother him any more. He had been five when his father had first started smoking. Mihael wondered how much of the smoke he had breathed in himself. Probably a third of what his father smoked.

Mihael stood up and took his plate to the sink. The plate landed in the sink with a clank and shattered. It frightened Mihael just a little bit; he didn't think he had thrown it that hard. The fear was then replaced by slight glee. He knew it would piss off his father and that made Mihael just a little bit happier.

As if on cue, his father leaped up and said, "What the fuck did you do?" When Mihael didn't answer, it only made him angrier. The man ran over to the sink and peered into it with rage. Mihael tried to slowly walk away from his father, but the man was quicker. He grabbed Mihael by his hair and slammed his head into the sink. Mihael cried out in pain as the broken glass was pushed into his face.

"Now, I want to you clean this mess up and I want it to never happen again," ordered his father. The presser of the man's hand was then removed from Mihael's head. The boy could hear footsteps and only until his father was far enough not to be able to look back at him, he picked his head up. His eyes were still intact, but he wasn't sure about the rest of his face. Mihael ran to the bathroom and peered into the mirror that hanged on the wall. When he saw his face, he screamed in terror.

Blood covered every single part of his face that was possible. There was a giant gash on his forehead and lots of blood was spilling from it. There were also two cuts on his cheeks with small pieces of glass stuck in them. Mihael started pulling the glass out, washed his face, and then found bandages in a first aid kit lying around in the cabinet in the bathroom. He wrapped the bandages around his forehead, put smaller bandages on his cheeks, and then walked out of the bathroom. He took a look into the sink and his face showed pure disgust. Blood caked the broken plate and the sink as well. He pulled out the glass and proceeded to wash the sink.

When Mihael finished, he walked out of the kitchen and into the family room. His father was sitting on the couch, watching a football game, smoking, and chugging beer. It made Mihael sick. The blond walked past his father to the stairs and sprinted up them two at a time. When he finally reached his room, he closed the door with a sigh. Then he pulled off his shirt and got ready for bed.

-

Mihael ripped his eyes open and looked around. There was no light coming from the window. Only darkness. It was still night time. Mihael was about to go back to sleep when he smelt something. A certain something that if there was less of it, it would have been familiar, but there was a lot more than Mihael remembered. He threw his blanket off the bed and ran to his door. Upon opening it, more of the smell appeared. He walked to the top of the stairs and suddenly saw what had caused all of it. Fire.

Mihael panicked. Fire covered the bottom of the stairs and around the door. The door had collapsed and fire covered the opening. He looked for something – anything – to help him. Just as he was about to give up, he noticed a bucket full of water sitting in the bathroom. The grabbed the bucket and dumped the contents on himself. He rolled his shirt up, rung his shirt out a bit so that some of the water could get on the bottom of his feet, and threw it over his head. He then ran forward into the fire.

For what Mihael thought was hours, he spelled nothing but smoke. He coughed and wheezed. After what was only seconds, he emerged outside. As soon as the smoke smell wasn't as strong, Mihael pulled his shirt down. He turned around to face his house. The fire had spread to the second floor. Suddenly, fear enveloped him as he realized one thing. There, on the couch, sat a flaming figure which could only have been his dad.

Mihael turned around and walked away from the building, never to return to the home he had lived in. Never to seek it's shelter ever again.

**To be continued…**

* * *

_A/N: I feel like a murderer. It's only the second chapter and already three people have died. I feel like this was a good chapter, but I think the ending was slightly rushed. Oh well. It's late, anyway, and I really don't have to energy to make it better._

_Please review. Reviews make me very happy. _


	3. Six of Hearts

_**Disclaimer: Death Note belongs to Tsugumi Obha and Takeshi Obata.**_

* * *

**Cards and Alleys**

**Chapter Three: Six of Hearts**

**-**

How many days has it been? Three? Mihael didn't know. He was hungry and tired. Every breath was painful. The blond had been eating from garbage cans ever since he had become homeless. The vile taste was still on his tongue. He was disgusted with himself. He wished he had just gone to the police. They would have made everything all right. It was too late, now, though. He didn't even know where he was. He was just walking aimlessly, looking for food or even water. Before, he had walked up to a woman and asked her for food or money and she had just hit him with her purse. She then called him a bum while also yelling and cursing. He had tried to tell her that it wasn't his fault that he was a bum, but she just ran away. He wanted to curl up into a tight ball and cry, but he told himself that he wasn't that weak and continued on.

Mihael walked past a man sitting on the side of the building and he pitied him. He now knew what it was like to be homeless. He regretted ever making fun of the homeless with his friends. He promised himself that if he ever saw his friends again, he would tell them it wasn't funny.

"Hey, kid. Do you have any money or food? As you can see, I've got nothing," asked the man. Mihael shook his head in response.

"That's okay. Sorry for bothering you," said the man.

Mihael decided that the man wasn't threatening and asked, "What's your name?"

"Touta Matsuda. What's yours?" asked the man.

"Mihael Keehl."

Matsuda smiled and said, "What's a kid like you doing out here on the streets?"

"Honestly, I have no idea," said Mihael, kneeling down next to Matsuda.

"It upsets me that there are kids like you out here. Why don't you just go to the police? I'm sure you'll get a good home."

Mihael shook his head. "I want to, but they're probably going to stuff me into a neglected orphanage."

Matsuda smiled and leaned back against the wall. "Yeah. I guess so." It was quiet for a while and then Mihael could hear Matsuda's breathing even and he knew the man was asleep.

Mihael just sat there for a while, waiting for the man to wake up. He knew he should have stood up and walked away, but something told him not to. Matsuda had been the only one who had been nice to him in the streets and he wanted to stay with him. Sure, the man could have been a rapist or a murderer or even down right crazy, but he didn't seem that way to Mihael. And he supposed that he could deal with the man if he was, in fact, one of those things. Mihael supposed it was a little naïve, but then again, he didn't really care.

After a while, Matsuda opened his eyes and sat up. Then he smiled after seeing that Mihael was still there.

"You're still here?" he asked.

"I've got nowhere else to go," retorted Mihael.

"Yeah. That's true. Say, kid, are you hungry?" asked Matsuda.

Mihael looked at him hopefully and said, "Starving." Matsuda grinned and pulled out a bag from behind his back. Inside the bag was some cooked chicken.

"A woman dropped this yesterday. I would have given it back to her, but I need the food and it's like they say, "Finders keeps, losers weepers." It'll go bad soon so eat as much as you can."

"Thanks," said Mihael, "but I'm really thirsty so do you have any water?"

"I'm not swimming in food here, Mihael."

"Sorry," said Mihael, biting into the chicken.

"Hey, I was just joking. You can probably find some water if you look," said Matsuda. "I'll even help you once we're done eating."

Once they finished eating, Mihael followed Matsuda down a dusty alleyway. The alleyway was dimly lit and people sat against the walls. The man stopped at the end of the alleyway and there, against the wall, was a pipe jutted out from the wall. Water tricked from it. Mihael thanked the man and kneeled down to take drink.

Suddenly, he heard a thump from behind him and he spun around. He stood up and saw the body of Matsuda hit the ground. Blood spilled everywhere. Mihael's mind suddenly returned to that day where he had gotten his fortune told by the fortune teller. Was it starting to come true? Was this what the fortune teller meant? Had Matsuda been the friend? Was this what the Ace of Spades stood for? Mihael screamed; not just for Matsuda but also for the fact of what he had remembering.

"Oh, shut up. Your wailing is so annoying."

"Huh?" said Mihael. He stopped screaming and finally came to realize that there were two girls standing in front of him. They both had super wavy copper hair and copper-colored eyes. They both used dirty rags as head bands and one of them had her hair up in pig tails while the other one just had her hair hanging down her back. They both wore huge sweat shirts that hug about half way to their knees. One girl wore a white sweat shirt and the other one wore a purple one. They both had what looked like metal cuffs on their necks, feet, and hands. The girls were obviously twins. They were also caked in dirt and smelled bad, but that was sort of given because they were obviously homeless.

"Oh, Frieda, we should keep him. He will be fun to play with," said the girl with the white shirt to the other girl.

"Of course, Forgotten! That's a great idea," exclaimed the girl with the pig tails.

"W-why'd you kill him?" yelled Mihael.

"Because he would have never let us get to you," said the girl Mihael assumed was named Frieda.

"M-me? What the hell would you want with me?!" yelled Mihael.

"You're a boy!" said Frieda.

"A very cute boy, I might add," said the other girl, Forgotten.

"And the two of us have been very, very bored."

"Oh and we will have use for the man later. We want to be good girls and have the dessert after the meal!" With that, Frieda pulled out a knife.

Mihael backed up until he was up against the wall and couldn't go any father. Frieda walked calmly after him as Forgotten pulled the knife out of Matsuda's neck. Frieda placed the knife against Mihael's throat and a smiled appeared on her lips. With her other hand, she moved her hand down to the edge of Mihael's pants.

"Oh, I'm so…so bored and you're so cute. It'll only hurt for a second," whispered Frieda in his ear. Then she pulled the knife to her lips and licked the edge of the blade. A small cut appeared on her tongue and a bit of blood splattered on the knife. Behind her, Mihael could tell the Forgotten had gotten the knife out of Matsuda's neck and was walking towards them. He closed his eyes and prayed for God to save him.

Suddenly, Mihael felt another presence nearby and opened his eyes. There stood a red haired boy. He had his hand on Frieda's shoulder. "Hey, you two. Would it kill you to take your sick obsessions somewhere else?"

"Oh, Mattie, you're so mean," said Forgotten, frowning.

Matt smiled. "Of course I am. It's my job. Besides, it just doesn't feel right when a kid gets their virginity ripped away like that. You can do whatever you want to that man over there, though. I think he's dead anyway, so he won't care."

"N-no! He's my friend!" yelled Mihael. He had only known the man for a day, but the word felt right.

"An adult? Your friend? No way!" laughed the boy. "Come with me and I promise the those two idiots won't try to take your virginity away again."

"Aw, Mattie, what's so bad about that? We got our virginity taken away when we were five and look at us. We're fine!" said Frieda.

"I think "fine" is an understatement," said Matt, "and don't call me "Mattie". It makes it sound like I'm your man bitch."

Frieda and Forgotten burst into a fit of giggles. When they had finally stopped laughing, Mihael and Matt were long gone.

**To Be Continued…**

* * *

_A/N: Matt is finally in the story! Yay! Oh and if any of you are thinking that Forgotten is supposed to be a self incert, you couldn't be farther from the truth. That girl's a freaking psycho! I just used that name because I wanted both of their names to start with "F" and everything else just didn't fit them. I like them, but only as story characters. And they will pop up every now and then in the story so they are kind of important. They were modeled a bit on the Hitachiin twins from Ouran High School Host Club, but I made Frieda and Forgotten twice as insane and crazy and have no compassion or caring for anyone else. I completely love Hikaru and Kaoru, don't get me wrong, I just thought it would be fun to have two completely insane girls in my story and for some reason decided to base them slightly on the twins. _

_Please review. I really want to know what you people think and reviews are to me like chocolate is to Mello except I really don't think they do much to my phycical heath.  
_


	4. Jack of Hearts

_**Disclaimer: Death Note belongs to Tsugumi Obha and Takeshi Obata.**_

* * *

**Cards and Alleys**

**Chapter Four: Jack of Hearts**

-

Mihael followed Matt through the streets, the red head keeping a tight grip on his hand. He felt the sweat that was caking his hand: his and Matt's. He knew that if Matt had known those girls, he might be dangerous himself, but Mihael didn't feel threatened. He actually felt safe. He hoped that following Matt wouldn't bite him in the ass later.

They walked out of the alleyway and Matt turned left. They passed many people, but none of them paid the two boys any attention. The two of them walked past a couple of bars and even a grocery store. That particular street smelled like alcohol, but Mihael did his best to ignore it. Matt turned left once more and they ended up in another alley. Matt broke his grasp on Mihael's hand and placed his hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"Don't worry. You're safe now."

"What the hell was that about? Who are you? Who were they?" asked Mihael.

"I'm Matt and that was Frieda and Forgotten. They're a little messed up so you have to excuse them," said Matt. He walked over to a worn out backpack and opened it. In it was some bread. Matt pulled out a piece that was as moldy as the rest and held it out to Mihael. "Here."

Mihael thanked Matt and bit into the bread. Matt walked away from the blond and pulled off his stripped shirt. He rolled it up into a ball and threw it onto the ground. He lied down on the ground and turned to Mihael.

"Hm…Can I call you Mello?" asked Matt.

"Um…I guess, but why?" asked Mihael.

"Because using you're real name on the streets is dangerous," said Matt.

"Why?" asked Mihael.

Matt shrugged. "You can never be too safe."

Mihael sat down and reclined on a pile of clothes. The pile smelled rancid, but it wasn't much different than the rest of the street. In seconds, Mihael was asleep.

-

Mihael woke up to a pile of cloth in his face. He shook it off and stood up. He came face to face with Matt who was trying to keep a boy back who looked like he was about to kill Mihael.

"He took my spot!" yelled the kid.

"Stop being stupid!" yelled Matt. "Mello's new! Besides, you're acting childish and unreasonable!"

"I just got back from a raid! I can be as unreasonable as I want!" yelled the kid. Then he turned around and stomped away.

Mihael sat up and rubbed his back. "What the hell was that about?" he said.

"Just Duncan being stupid," said Matt.

Mihael stood up and the two boys left the alleyway. It was about midmorning and Mihael was still a bit tired, but he followed Matt anyway. Asking for a few hours wouldn't have done him any good, anyway. He was sure he was never going to be able to fall asleep again.

Matt led Mihael back into the alleyway that he had met Frieda and Forgotten. Mihael shuddered as he walked into it, but calmed down when the two girls weren't there. Neither was Matsuda's body, but his blood was still there. Mihael shivered as the blood reminded him of the day before. He wondered where Matsuda's body was. He assumed that it was probably with Frieda and Forgotten and they were doing to it what the wanted to do to him.

Matt saw the expression on Mihael's face and he placed his hand on his shoulder to reassure him. "Don't worry, Mello. I'm not going to let them near you."

"I'm not scared," said Mihael, but his expression said otherwise.

Matt sighed. "Wait here. I'm just going to get water."

Mihael nodded and obeyed Matt. He saw the red head bend over and poured some of the water from the pipe into a bucket. Matt then walked back to Mihael and handed him the bucket.

"Can you hold this?" asked Matt. Mihael nodded and took the bucket from the other boy. They returned back to where the two of them spent the night before and they saw that there were more people. The boy that Matt had called Duncan was there talking to another boy. A white haired boy sat on the pile of clothes, twirling a lock of hair. A brown haired girl sat next to him. A black haired girl sat on the bottom of the pile, shuffling through it, but it didn't seem like she was looking for anything in particular. Mihael stiffened as he noticed Frieda and Forgotten giggling and whispering in the corner.

"It's okay, Mello," said Matt. "They won't hurt you with everyone else here."

"I'm not scared," said Mihael once again, but he was still grateful for Matt's reassurance.

Matt nodded and his hand returned to his side. "Anyway, that's Ragen talking to Duncan, the white haired kid is Near, the girl talking to Near is Linda, and the girl going through the pile is Sayu."

"Wow. I don't know why, but I thought there would be more," said Mihael and then suddenly regretted it.

Matt laughed. "Yeah. There are others. But they come and go. No one stays here for good. Some leave. Others…" his voice trailed off.

"Others, what?" asked Mihael.

"Well, we have to rob places, and…"

"Oh. I get it."

"That's how one of my friends left," said Matt.

Mihael looked away. He knew better than to keep asking.

"Don't feel bad. It was my fault, anyway."

"Huh?" asked Mihael.

"I told her not to go. She didn't listen. I should have tried harder to convince her to stay," said Matt. Then he changed the conversation. "Come with me. You need smaller clothes. We all loose a lot of weight when we first get thrown out here."

Mihael looked down and blushed. He pulled up his jeans and followed Matt over to the clothes pile.

_**To Be Continued…**_

* * *

_A/N: Hi. It's Rasko. Yeah, this is kind of a filler chapter. And sorry I couldn't update, but school sucks out creativity. Plus, I was too busy to write. But today, I was sick. So, yeah, I suppose it's one of those kinda good/kinda bad situations. Also, sorry that it's kind of short. I tried my best, though.  
_

_Please review. I want to hear what you people think._


	5. Two of Hearts

_**Disclaimer: Death Note belongs to Tsugumi Obha and Takeshi Obata.

* * *

**_

**Cards and Alley**

**Chapter Five: Two of Hearts**

**-**

Mello sat up, rubbing his back. The rugged jacket that he had been sleeping under fell into a clump at his lap. The boy blew his now super long bangs out of his eyes and looked around. He frowned when he saw that none of the other kids were there. Of course, he didn't expect them to be; he had already been with them for about two months and had known that survival came first for them. It was a bit depressing, though, because he always considered their company a bit of an enjoyment.

Mello had come to gain some appreciation to what was going on in the streets. Among the group, Matt was the undoubted leader and no one dared to oppose him. Most of the other children, no matter what age, looked up to him. Matt always seemed to have the expression of not caring much about anything, but Mello had a feeling that he cared a lot for the other children. Sometimes, Mello would catch him standing outside a game store, staring at a Wii or a Playstation. Matt would have his face pressed up against the glass, looking at the videogames with desperation and want. It was those moments, those moments that Matt thought that no one was looking, were what made Mello realize that Matt was a child like everybody else.

Throwing on his jacket, Mello crawled out of the alleyway. Outside the alleyway, a wide-eyed Ragen was chewing on a piece of bread. With a quick glance at Mello, the boy, with a call from Duncan, ran away. Wrappers tumbled to the blonde's feet and Mello noticed that some of them were candy wrappers. He knelt down and picked one up, the label facing up. In flat, light writing, the word "Hersey's" was written on the wrapper with a chocolate colored background. Other small writing was all over the wrapper, but Mello didn't pay attention to it. Dropping the wrapper, he kept walking.

"Hey, Mello. You hungry?" asked Linda, offering him a stale piece of bread. Mello thanked her and took the bread, stuffing a piece into his mouth.

"Mel, there you are," said a voice. Mello looked up to see Matt running over to him.

"What do you mean, Matt? I was here the whole time," said Mello, slightly confused.

"Well, alright," said Matt. He reached for Mello's hand and wrapped his cold fingers around the blonde's, pulling him as a sign that he should start walking. "Come on." Mello nodded and followed Matt, their hands still interlocked.

Mello rubbed his fingers through his dirty blonde hair. Their hands still stayed linked as they walked, Matt only finally releasing Mello's hand to topple over a garbage can. The red head pushed aside some wrappers and was able to find a half-eaten Subway sandwich. Matt placed the sandwich in Mello's arms and said, "We'll bring this back later." Mello nodded and continued to follow Matt.

The main rule on the streets was that you didn't go alone. You always went with at least one or two other people. The reason for this was because you could be hurt or killed. If that happened, someone had to tell the rest of the group. Lately, Matt lugged around Mello. His explanation was that everyone else was pretty much paired off; Duncan with Ragen, Frieda and Forgotten, Linda and Near, and Sayu sort of went with pretty much everyone. Mello, although he was curious, didn't question Matt any further as to why they he had picked him.

As walked through the town, a police car pulled up to the two boys. Now, normally the police officer would have taken the boys in to the nearest orphanage just at looking at them, but it was an extremely poor neighborhood so he didn't question what they were wearing. "Excuse me, boys. Do you two want a ride?"

"Um… no it's alright, sir. Our house is just a few blocks away," said Matt. Mello felt the red head once again intertwine his figures with his and give Mello's hand a light squeeze.

"Alright, boys. Get home safe." With that, the police officer drove away.

"Be careful. Don't let the police officers know," said Matt. Mello nodded and followed him. Suddenly, Matt told Mello to stand there and walked over to a post. A piece of paper was tacked on to it, but Mello couldn't read what it said. With one quick motion, Matt ripped the piece of paper off the pole and returned to Mello. "Let's go."

The two boys returned to where the group gathered. Strangely, all of them were there, bustling around, moving things. It almost seemed like they were spring cleaning.

"What are they doing?" asked Mello.

Matt turned to look at the blonde. "They're preparing for L."

"L?" asked Mello, puzzled.

"You'll find out soon enough," said Matt. "Come on. Let's help." The red head lead the blonde to the other kids. Matt started picking up a bunch of discarded clothing and moved it behind the dumpster. Mello decided to pitch in and help. As he dragged some of the clothes behind it, he noticed some scribbles on the dumpster. One of them said "Matt + Liana" and unlike the others, it seemed scratched into the dumpster. Most of the others were written on with sharpie or some other writing utensil and had most likely been written there by some drunken high scholars. Mello traced his fingers over the carving, tracing over each letter.

"Hey, Matt. What's this for?" asked the blonde.

"What is what for?" asked Matt, walking over to his friend.

"This," said Mello, pointing at the carving.

"Oh. Sorry. I can't read." With that, the red head stood up and walked away. Mello turned to look back at the carving. He wondered if the "Matt" in the carving referred to the red headed leader, but he shook it off and followed that said red head away.

-

Mello walked back to the pile of clothes he had been sleeping on after relieving himself in the corner. It was a fairly chilly night and Mello was all but ready to get back to sleep, curled under his jacket. What caught his eye, though, was a piece of paper sticking out of the pocket of Matt's jeans. Mello remembered that he had ripped off a piece of paper that had been tacked onto a telephone pole earlier that morning. Mello, wondering what could have sparked Matt's interest, slowly removed the piece of paper out of the boy's pocket. In response, Matt twitched slightly, but stayed unconscious. When Mello was sure he hadn't disrupted Matt's sleep, he unfolded the piece of paper, curious to what was written in it. What was on it took his breath away.

On the top of the paper were the words "Have you seen this boy?" and a grinned picture of Mihael Kheel stared up at him.

**To Be Continued…

* * *

**

_A/N_: _Please please please don't hate me! I know I haven't updated in a long time, but I've been super super super busy! And I'm sorry that it pretty much ended up as a filler and a short one at that! Please please please don't hate me! I'm trying my best, I really am! Hopefully, with February break in about a week, I can get more chapters done! I'm so bad that I don't even have future chapters written down! D=_

_Yeah. I decided to get rid of Jia(To those of you that read WBD). She was going to be in this, but than that would look like she's my favorite OC. I actually don't like her very much anymore. Instead I came up with a new sue. XD_

_Please review. I want to know what you think.  
_


	6. Eight of Spades

_**Disclaimer: Death Note belongs to Tsugumi Obha and Takeshi Obata.

* * *

**_

**Cards and Alleys**

**Chapter Six: Eight of Spades**

**-**

The sky turned into a dark, foggy color that following evening, meaning it would soon rain either that night or the following morning. Mello splashed water on his face, the droplets cluttering together by his chin. Matt was standing next to him, leaning on the wall of the alleyway. The red head fiddled with the strap of his goggles in boredom, waiting for his blonde friend to finish washing some of the grime that caked his face.

Suddenly, the two boys heard footsteps behind them and they turned their heads to look at who it was. The person was Ragen, a worried expression prominent on his face.

"Ragen, what's wrong?" asked Matt.

"Um… where's Duncan?" asked the brown haired boy.

"He's in a side alleyway. He and Sayu woke up with a really bad fever. Come, we'll take you there," said Matt, signaling Mello to come with them. Ragen just nodded and let the red head lead. The three boys walked into a back alley and two figures lay there, wrapped in clothing for warmth.

"Duncan!" yelled Ragen, kneeling down next to the tan boy. "How are you feeling?"

The sick boy opened his eyes and turned his flushed face towards his partner. "I'm okay. It's just a small cold. I'll be up and about by tomorrow."

"O-okay. Get better soon," said Ragen, taking Duncan's hand in his and placing a light kiss on the knuckles. A small smile appeared on the sick boy's face.

"I love you, Ragen. Always remember that."

The brunette frowned. "You're saying it like I'll never see you again."

Duncan smiled. "Who knows? Maybe I won't survive this."

Ragen blushed in anger. "Don't say it like that! You will survive! You will!"

"Ragen…" said Duncan, placing his hand on the boy's cheek. "Are you mad at me?"

Ragen looked down on the ground. "N-no. I'm not mad at you."

"Ragen… tell me that you love me," said Duncan.

Ragen smiled and placed his hands over Duncan's. "I do. I love you. Always."

-

Mello frowned as he watched the two boys in front of him lean in for a kiss. Matt turned his head to see his friend's facial expression and said, "I think it's really special what Ragen and Duncan have."

"Hmm…" said Mello, the frown still on his face. "I never really knew they were together."

"Really? There were always pretty open about it. Everyone always assumed you knew," said Matt. "Is it possible you have a problem with the fact that they're both boys?"

"Well, not really. I mean, I used to make fun of people like them all the time with my friends, but being here in the streets made me realize that sometimes you just need someone special in your life, no matter what type of person they are," said Mello. "Anyone else together that I should know about?"

"Uh… not really. Linda has a crush on Near, but I don't think they're together. Frieda and Forgotten sometimes have sex in a secluded alley, but knowing how messed up those two are, I don't think they love each other."

Mello nodded. "So when do you think Duncan and Sayu will get better?"

Matt shrugged. "Who knows." That was the gist of it. Sometimes, it was hard to say if someone would survive from a cold out there in the streets.

-

It rained the following morning just as the group had predicted. The rain left a damp feeling in the air, leaving the orphans to take shelter behind dumpsters, garbage cans, and anything else they could find. Ragen was doing all that he could for Duncan and Sayu, but there was little that the orphans could do with no medication. Mello wrapped the blanket tighter around his frail body as he waited out the storm with Matt, Near, and Linda. Few words passed between the three of them and neither of them felt like saying anything. Mello's blonde hair clumped to his face uncomfortably and he lifted up a shivering hand to un-stick it. His rank clothing stuck to his body awkwardly in places and the asphalt he sat on was hard and cold, providing little warmth or comfort to the blonde. A terrible smell wafted from the dumpster, worming it's way up Mello's nostrils. The smell, along with the damp demeanor in the air, made Mello queasy enough to want to double over and empty his stomach of the little food he had eaten that morning. He then imagined himself at home with his mother and a kinder version of his father. Soon, the image calmed him enough to let his consciousness enter dreamland.

The rain soon ended and the blonde was gently shaken awake by Matt. Standing up, the orphans climbed out of their shelters and bustled around, hoping the rain hadn't done too much damage. In the end, all that survived was a hunk of stale break and a piece of aging chicken. Everything else was too wet to even consider digesting.

"Come on, Mel. We have to go gather food now that the rain's stopped," said Matt, brushing off his one size too large jeans. Mello nodded and the two pre-teens stumbled out of the alleyway, their legs still and numb from all the sitting. There were very few people on the streets seeing as it seemed that very little people in the city had realized that the rain had ended.

Suddenly, Mello saw two figures walking towards them. He narrowed his eyes to try and make out who they were, finding it was two girls his age. Mello knew exactly who they were and that fact sent chills up his spine. As they got near, Mello heard the two girls break out in giggles. Mello noticed Frieda clasp something in her right hand and turned his head to figure out what it was.

The girl, upon noticing his staring, menacingly grinned and held up the object. When the blonde realized what it was and what the girl had used it for, he was almost compelled to let out a sickening scream. Dread filled his body as the object perched in the air, held there by the girl's slim hand.

"What are you staring at, little Mihael? Never seen blood before?" giggled Forgotten. Mello wanted so badly to rip the girl's head of her shoulders. He would have done anything to shut her up.

The object in question was a saw and it was surely a mystery as to why the girls had the blade in their possession. Blood, a dark, sickening crimson color, had run down the blade's sides. It had started to dry in places, but most of the blood was still fresh, signaling that the blade had penetrated skin recently. The blood, though, was far from the worst of it. Perched on the tip of the blade sat Duncan's head, a bloody tongue stick out of the dead boy's mouth; his eyes gorged out.

Mello fell over and puked, tears immediately running down his face. Ragen had been wrong. Very, very wrong.

-

"There you are, Mel," said Matt, peeking behind the dumpster. There lay the blonde, a blanket pulled up over his head, his face pressed against the ground. "Are you okay, Mels?"

"Never been better, Matt," hissed the blonde, a vile tone rolling of his tongue. He would absolutely hate it if he was going to be comforted by someone younger than him. "What was that all about, anyway? I thought we were all like one big, dysfunctional family."

"We are, Mel. We all care about each other. Like I said, us street kids stick together, no matter what."

"Then why the fuck was Duncan's fucking head on Frieda's saw? Even though they're bat shit insane, I thought even they cared about the rest of the group," yelled Mello, screaming it in the red head's face.

Matt sighed and pulled out a cigarette along with a lighter. He popped the small cylinder into his mouth, lighting it with a sigh. Everyone knew of the red head's cigarette addiction that had been forced on him by his mother. "Mel, Duncan was really sick. We weren't exactly sure if he was going to make it and we couldn't take a chance and let the disease spread. We were planning to give him a funeral of sorts tonight, but those girls got excited and dragged him off too early."

"What about Sayu? She was sick as well," asked Mello.

"Sayu's fine. It was just a tiny cold for her," reassured Matt.

Mello nodded and sat up, the blanket dropping from his shoulders. "Matt, can I ask you about something?"

The red head nodded. "Anything."

"I saw the paper in your pocket a few days ago. The "Have you seen this kid" one. Why was my face on it and why the hell didn't you show me it? Shouldn't I be the one who needs to see it?" asked Mello, glaring at the goggle wearing boy. In all honesty, there was countless times where Mello felt that he was the younger one.

Matt sighed again and took a long drag on the cigarette. "Most of us are the type of kids who have pretty much lived on these streets all our lives. The kids on those ads are the ones who had regular, happy, easy lives. Those of us street kids who do get up on those ads usually end up reacting in unpredictable ways. I didn't want it to hurt you, Mels, because I don't know what exactly we're going to do about it. Let's just put it this way; the police are after you and that puts you and the rest of the group in jeopardy. If we're found, it's good-by open, dirty street and hello stinky, diseased orphanage."

"What are you saying, Matt? Is the group kicking me out? Have you already shown them the paper and are they hell-bent on kicking me out?!" spat Mello.

"No. Only me and you have seem the paper. How many times do I have to repeat that the street kids stick together, no matter what?"

"Oh," said Mello, the red head's words crashing down on him, quickly dispelling his anger. "I'm sorry I doubted you."

"Mello, if it makes you feel any better, it means you're better than all of us," said Matt. "You're a somebody or at least you were." With that, the red head stood up, signaling Mello to follow his lead.

"Come with me. We're on money duty and we're extremely behind for the day."

**To Be Continued…**

* * *

_A/N: Well, I wrote this one day during a really boring history movie, but I didn't really have time to type it up. As fate would have it, I'm sick today which means another chapter for you guys. You're welcome. And like I said, I'm sick so this is probably riddled with mistakes. Point them out and tell me, please._ :)

_Please review. I want to know what you think.  
_


End file.
